Author 




Title 



Class HB3JLIX 
Book L-SXJSl. 



Imprint 



.V3 



■BPW5- 

E5 V3 





The Causes 

which Produce Them ; 

The Lessons they Teach ; 

The Spirit in 'which to Bear Them ; 

How to Make Them Good; 

When will they Come 

no More ? 



BY- 



®®- S. Ifa^ 



OF CRANBURY, NEW JERSEY. 




HARD TIMES; 

The Causes which Produce Them; The 

Lessons they Teach; The Spirit in 

which to Bear Them; Ho^^^ 

to Make Them Good; 

When will they 

Come no More? 



B Y 



Rev. Jos. S, Van Dyke, 



CRANBURY, NEW JERSEY. 



TRENTON, N. J.: 

WILLIAM S. SHARP, PRINTER, 21 W. STATE ST. 
1879. 



.V3 



JAN 21 19^1 . 1 



HARD TIMES. 



THE CAUSES WHICH PEODUCE THEM. 

" They have done nothing of all that thou commandest them to do ; therefore 
thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.'' — Jeremiah xxxii., 23. 

If you should ever deliberately leap over Niagara, do not 
complain of what comes after. The nation which violates 
divine commands, ought not to murmur under divine judg- 
ments. 

Capitalists loaning money at four per cent. ! Farmers 
selling grain at less than the cost of production ! Embar- 
rassed manufacturers throwing calico on the market at three 
cents a yard ! Mechanics without work, laborers without 
bread, widows sewing sixteen hours a day and receiving in 
return scarcely enough to maintain an enfeebled existence! 
What do these things mean ? Hard Times, God's laws disre- 
garded. 

It requires no especial searching to discover persons now in 
penury who a few years ago were in affluence ; no reuiarkable 
penetration to perceive that many have been financially ruined ; 
that of even the prudent many are greatly embarrassed, eco- 
nomical people being without money and Christian men ask- 
ing for an extension of credit. Bank buildings, farms, 
manufacturing establishments, private residences — humble 
cottages and palatial mansions — ^^ Going, going, gone,'' at 
less than one-half the former estimated value. Sheriffs so 
crowded with business as to become intoxicated with success — 



4 HARD TIMES. 

or with something less honorable. Worse still, a pack of 
hungry wolves, who, after n^venously devouring wrecked 
fortunes, are lean, lank and hungry still, prowling about for 
more prey. 

What's the explanation ? Hard Times, divine commands 
violated and groaning thousands bearing the penalties. It 
certainly cannot be denied that it is extremely sad to see those 
penniless who were once rich ; those deeming themselves fortu- 
nate in having a humble shelter from the pelting storm, who 
once dwelt in lordly mansions ; the improvident almost on the 
verge of starvation ; tramps on nearly every highway ; and 
still more heartrending to observe that even the industrious 
and economical are in distressingly straitened circumstances ; 
all classes, in greater or less measure, feeling the tightening grip 
of pecuniary embarrassment. Why this stringency ? From 
nearly all comes back the response, " Hard Times ; we have 
been disregarding innmntable laws of Heaven.'' 

None of us, however, desire to be understood as affirming 
that our Heavenly Father has withheld, or even diminishech 
the a:ifts of His bounty. The harvests have been abundant. 
There is enough for all, even for the wandering tramp, the 
desolate widow and the homeless orphan. Nor do we mean 
to affirm that our industries have been unproductive. Of 
manufactured articles our markets are full. Nor have the 
hidden treasures of the earth failed. Coal, iron, lead, silver 
and gold have been produced in large quantities. In the 
midst of unparalleled plenty how shall we explain the present 
excessive depression ? The transparent fact that God has not 
stinted us renders it evident that the stringency is due to our 
own conduct. We have brought these evils upon ourselves. 
How? this is the question we shall endeavor to answer. We 
shall endeavor to convince you that we are simply suffering 
the consequences of our own acts ; are merely eating the fruit 
of our own doings. 

Manifestly, we should be guilty of no slight sin if we 



HARD TIMES. 5 

imagined that God was the autlior of the evils we have 
brought upon ourselves. This would be an attempt to defend 
ourselves by slandering onr Maker. Hushed forever be the 
thought that God is punishing us in any other way than by 
permitting us to punish ourselves ! If we have deliberately 
violated those laws upon whose observance continued pros- 
perity depends, let us not be guilty of the stupendous folly, 
nay, the atrocious sin, of charging our multiplied troubles 
upon the dealings of a benevolent God. To some, perhaps, 
it may seem quite pious to affirm, ^' God is visiting judgments 
upon us f to most, however, it is more in accordance with 
genuine religion to acknowledge that we have erred, and are 
suffering the penalties. 

Few, perhaps, may be disposed to affirm, as Jeremiah did 
of the Jews, that this nation has done "nothing of all that 
God commanded it to do ;'^ nearly all, however, are ready to 
confess that we have violated divine injunctions. Some, no 
doubt, are reluctant to acknowledge that our embarrassments 
are in punishment of sins; but none, assuredly can deny that 
if God has simply declined to interfere — merely permitting 
us to reap as we have sown — we have no right to murmur. 
Environed by the consequences of our own acts, it is wisdom 
to inquire, " Wherein have we sinned ?'^ Since God, when he 
punishes us, needs not to mete out judgments arbitrarily, but 
has simply to let us alone — our own transgressions bringing 
down punishment with unerring certainty — it is only in this 
qualified sense that we are at liberty to attribute our calamities 
to his agency. He has linked disastrous consequences with 
the violation of his immutable laws; consequently, we inevit- 
ably sufPer the merited punishment of persistent disregard of 
divine commandments. And what else are God^s judgments, 
either upon individuals or upon nations, either in this life or the 
next, than simply non-interference ? The sinner, left to the result 
of his folly, is eternally undone. A nation, permitted to reap 
as it has sown, is certain to gather a large harvest of misery. 



6 HARD TIMES, 

What then are the causes, the effects of which we are now 
enduring? what the divine laws we have been violating and 
whose penalties we have been paying ? Before attempting to 
enumerate the causes, or to ascertain their connection with 
transgressions of inviolable mandates, it may be well to assure 
ourselves that Hard Times are a natural result of wide-spread 
immorality. They are an effect ; immoral practices the cause. 
To-day is settlement day. We have danced to the music, and we 
must pay the piper. Our sins have found us out. The decla- 
ration, ^' Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap," is 
as true in reference to nations as to individuals. The scrip- 
tural assertion, " Godliness has promise of the life that now 
is," is as applicable to national life as to our ow^n. It is true 
that, inasmuch as the cause must precede the effect, it often 
happens that the generation sinning the most suffers less than 
some subsequent age. The fact that we are the suflPerers does 
not necessarily prove that we have sinned more heinously than 
those who lived in the prosperous times of fifteen years ago. 

And yet have we not merited punishment? We who were 
born to see things as they should be, have schooled ourselves 
to see things as people say they are. We have rendered our- 
selves hoarse in shouting, '^ The things that are, are the things 
that .^hall be. Reform ! Why, we Americans are the purest, 
most intelligent, most moral, most civilized people on earth. 
Go, reform the poor heathen. Teach them the advantages of 
that form of Christian civilization which talks piously and 
practices villanously. As for us, we are heaven's favored 
people." 

Thus, by submitting to the existing order of things and 
tutoring conscience to believe them as near right as they 
can be in this sinful world, and as good as God demands, we 
increase the volume and strength of those causes which are 
shaking the pillars of our material prosperity, even of our 
national permanency. Crash, crash, crash, the structure is 
tottering. Riches have taken to themselves wings and are 



HARD TIMES. 7 

flying away. Unless new foundations are laid, and the rotten 
timbers are replaced by sound ones, the nations of the earth 
will be invited ere long, perhaps before a century rolls round, 
to attend the funeral of the Great Eepublic. Who will preach 
the sermon ? " Old Time." What will be the text ? " Thus 
always with those who violate Heaven's laws.'' Who will 
sing the funeral dirges ? The weeping Goddess of Liberty. 
Where will they bury her? In eternal oblivion. What shall 
inherit her possessions ? Some form of government that 
tramples individual liberty beneath her iron heel. 

But the causes of Hard Times ? Some tell us the present 
financial stringency is the result of heavy expenditures during 
the war. Nor are we disposed to deny that in great measure 
this is true. Unquestionably, it happens with a nation as 
with a business house, after borrowing heavily and expending 
the money in ways whence no returns are possible, pay day is 
accompanied with excessive embarrassment. To a great 
extent the money expended in the war was a waste similar to 
that of squandering riches to feed vanity or personal ambi- 
tion. Whatever may have been its return in honor, in the 
maintenance of national unity and in the perpetuation of free 
institutions, it yieldecl no dividends in the means of liquidat- 
ing debts. So far as our national prosperity was concerned it 
was so much wealth consumed. And to imagine that those 
were in reality prosperous times in which borrowed money 
was circulating freely, is to forget that true prosperity, both 
private and public, is measured, by the balance left after all 
obligations are paid. In point of fact the nation was poorer 
than it is to-day. It mortgaged itself and spent the borrowed 
money in cannon, shot, shell, shoddy, bad whiskey and the 
wastes of Avar. If, instead of paying our sacred obligations, we 
should permit ourselves to be dragged into the infatuation of 
re-issuing paper currency or circulating millions of depreciated 
dollars, we might again have financial intoxication, to be suc- 
ceeded by times still harder, if not indeed by national and 



8 HARD TIMES. 

almost universal bankruptcy. If fits of intoxication follow 
each other too rapidly they inevitably produce death. Suc- 
cessive paroxysms of borrowing are certain to end in financial 
ruin. Engraved paper, whether in the merchant's safe or in 
the public treasury, is no increase of wealth. It is simply a 
promise to pay, in hands that must return it with interest, or 
be financially bankrupt. And if hard cash is not earned to 
meet the obligations as they mature, embarrassment ensues. 

At present we are not concerned to ask whether these 
expenditures were not augmented by dishonesty. We desire 
to lay stress upon the simple fact that borrowing is followed 
by a demand for payment; and that settlement day, with 
those who have not earned even interest, is necessarily a try- 
ing time. Perceiving this, you perceive that war, which 
always necessitates borrowing, ' must be succeeded by Hard 
Times. It is the penalty God exacts for blood. The war 
being a gigantic crime, we cannot escape its consequences, 
impoverishment and suffering. 

The war was a sin in which every section of the country 
participated. Consequently, all suffer. Its iai mediate cause 
was sectional rebellion. And was not this one of the greatest 
crimes of the nineteenth century ? Since escape from the 
penalties of transgression is impossible so long as omnipotent 
justice occupies the throne, we are certainly not so foolish as to 
suppose that our crime could pass unpunished. But what pro- 
duced the rebellion ? Party strife and the spirit of lawless- 
ness. Why expect these to escape punishment ? 

Some ask, " Why do the innocent suffer with the guilty f^ 
It is sufficient to answer, '' God deals with nations as 
nations.'^ Are any innocent, however ? Where are the 
voters who are free from the trammels of party? where the 
persons who have not aided in electing men whose public and 
private life disqualified them for office? where the ballots 
that have never been cast under the promptings of party 
spirit? Few indeed are the people — their residences are 



HARD TIMES. 9 

unknown — who, having banded together, dare to say, ^^ We 
care nothing for party. Good men and good principles are 
conditions of receiving our voles. Give us these and you may 
have our ballots. Refuse ; and neither a day's wages, politi- 
cal preferment, party success, fulsome flattery, nor even bad 
whiskey can purchase us. We will select our own men, 
announce our own platform, and die honorably, die solemnly 
protesting against exalting party above country .'' The guilt- 
less are almost as rare as white blackbirds. 

Examine the soil from which rebellion sprang, the spirit 
of lawlessness. With jurors pronouncing men innocent whom 
the evidence convicts ; with petty thieves in state prison while 
those who stole thousands are dwelling in lordly mansions; 
with bar-rooms open on Sabbath, and violating law unblush- 
ingly; with men in legislatures who retail liquor without 
license; with knaves holding honorable and responsible offices 
and even occupying places at the communion table, are we 
prepared to affirm that we are guiltless of encouraging law- 
lessness ? 

As I do not covet a martyr's fate, nor the reputation of 
'^taking arms against a sea of trouble," I pause. If you 
are not convinced that our calamities are penalties, in part, of 
war and of the transgressions which produced it, you are 
respectfully handed over to that ancient dame, Experience, 
who, it is said, keeps a dear school, though her instructions 
are valuable and moreover are seldom forgotten. 

Others tell us reckless speculation has been the cause of the 
present depression. It can not be denied that some people 
seem to consider speculation the easiest and most direct avenue 
to wealth. The old way, through industry, economy and per- 
severance, is deemed too tedious and too rough. It is that 
along which the successful men of the present nearly all trav- 
elled; it is now denominated antiquated, however, and is 
accordingly contemned by the young aspirants after success. 
Possibly, if the hard times continue long enough, the old way 



10 HARD TIMES, 

may become popular again. This seems quite probable since 
the new road is pretty badly blocked up with wrecked for- 
tunes, ruined men, and tottering institutions, across which 
ghastly spectres are writing predictions of coming disaster. 
It may be the time is not far distant when the young shall per- 
ceive that one becomes wealthy, not so much by increasing his 
store, as by diminishing his wants ; not so frequently by wild 
speculation as by honest industry. May we not ardently hope 
that there is a good time coming soon, when persevering industry 
and unflinching principle will no longer be at a discount while 
reckless speculation is trampling fortunes, hearts and lives 
into the bottomless gulf where so many have sunk to rise no 
more. Though there is unquestionably such a thing as legiti- 
mate speculation, there are instances in which the term is 
merely a respectable name for the worst forms of gambling, a 
thin varnish for revolting hideousness, a gilding to bare-faced 
rascalities. 

These illegitimate speculations, which have aided in bring- 
ing on disaster, are evidently violations of divine laws. One 
divine injunction makes this manifest, '^ Owe no man anything 
but to love.^' The man who, with his own earnings, pays for 
all he purchases, may indeed become poor, but can never 
involve others in ruin. He may become rich by an advance 
in the market value of the article purchased, but is not likely 
to become so intoxicated by a sense of his own shrewdness as 
to stake his own fortune and all he can borrow on the chances 
of a rise or fall in some stock that has only a speculative 
value. Nor is he liable to become so completely blunted in 
moral sense as to deliberately plan how he may ruin others, 
thereby affording himself an opportunity of purchasing 
wrecked fortunes at half price. 

Another divine injunction, as bearing upon speculation, 
deserves attention, '' Labor not to be rich.'' If one may not 
" labor to be rich," certainly he should neither rob nor gamble to 
become rich. This unreasonable desire to acquire wealth, how 



HARD TIMES. 11 

many has It ruined ! It has betrayed friendships, burned out 
the conscience, shattered the health and hurled souls upon the 
hissing pavements of perdition. Strange that immortal beings 
should become so infatuated with love of glittering dust. Can 
it purchase pleasure? No. Can it buy health? No. Can 
It secure genuine friendship? No. Can it purchase a man- 
sion in the eternal city? Not even a mud hovel. Can it 
bribe the angel of death ? For his dull ear the chinking of 
gold has no charms. What can wealth do then that men so 
ardently covet its possession ? ^It can purchase a silver- 
mounted coffin, and a handsome marble slab. 

If this is substantially all it can do, why do men so labor 
to be rich ? Is it because there are no nobler ends for which 
to toil? No nobler objects? There Is the good of society, 
the progress of religion, the honor of one's family, the pos- 
session of a good name, the consolidation of moral character^ 
the happiness of heaven. He who is bending all his energies 
to amass wealth is moving on a very low plain. Moreover, 
the Bible affirms, " He that maketh haste to be rich shall not 
be innocent.'' This certainly is true, in a pre-eminent degree, 
as regards many forms «of speculation. Consequently the 
prevalence of this spirit is an occasion for deep regret. As a 
nation we have had a violent speculative spasm and are suffer- 
ing from the resulting weakness. We became so preternatur- 
ally excited as to have shattered our nervous system somewhat, 
and impaired our health to some extent; and to have lost our 
equilibrium and our money along with our good, strong, Anglo- 
Saxon common sense. Large doses of the bitter drug experi- 
ence are beginning, however, to have a good effect. With our 
debts paid, a hundred cents to the dollar, we shall be strong 
once more. Probably It will be many long years before our 
people will so seriously violate Heaven's laws as to bring on 
a second paroxysm of reckless speculation. They will have a 
wholesome dread of the disastrous consequences. 

Others assure us political corruption is the source of our 



12 HARD TIMES. 

woes. They tell us — unfortunately it is but too true — that 
political corruption, especially in our large cities, is appalling. 
Politicians are buying votes and reimbursing themselves by 
robbing the long-suffering public. They are accepting bribes 
to favor legislation in the interest of wealthy individuals and 
powerful monopolies; not infrequently to the serious detri- 
ment of the mass of their constituents. Alike in city and 
county contracts have been given out for unnecessary im- 
provements ; given out that by fraudulent manipulations a 
corrupt ring might grow wealthy while impoverishing the 
burdened taxpayers. Consequently, in some instances, public 
debts have become so enormous that taxation, which sorely 
presses the people, fails in yielding a revenue adequate to pay 
the interest on the outstanding obligations, leaving nothing 
for the p'ayment of current expenses. Dishonesty is showing 
its hideous features where unblemished Honor ought to have 
her sacred throne. 

Indeed, if to legitimate national, state, county, city, town- 
ship and private indebtedness there be added the indebtedness 
resulting from political fraud, the aggregate must be enor- 
mous. It is a burden under whiclf the industrious and the 
honest are heavily groaning. To pay the debts honestly 
incurred is all we are well able to do, and all that ought to be 
imposed upon us. When, in addition to these, we are endeav-. 
oring to pay the heavy sums which political dishonesty is 
saddling upon us, is it any w^onder we are forced to drink the 
cup of humiliation ? Nor is there any honest way of escaping 
these sacred obligations, however great the fraud by which they 
were produced, since our indifference to the conduct of the 
men whom our ballots elected has permitted the burden 
to be legally imposed upon us. It is to be hoped, how- 
ever, that ere we dr-ink the dregs citizens will perceive the 
necessity of frowning down political jobbery, vote-buying, 
corrupt legislation and ring frauds. 

The disheartening amount of private dishonesty that is now 



HARD TIMLS. 13 

coming to light is no doubt due, in great measure, to the 
prevalence of fraud in political circles. The former, accord- 
ing to scripture, is a natural result of the latter; ''The wicked 
walk on every side when the vilest are exalted.'^ Though we 
are far from asserting that all politicians, or even the majority^ 
are corrupt, it cannot be denied that facts indicate that many 
are. Certainly some unprincipled men are raised to res;ponsi- 
ble positions, and, unfortunately, they are subsequently hon- 
ored and flattered, often by persons claiming respectability. 
So long as these things are true, so long as we are paying a 
price for dishonesty, so long as a person may retain social 
standing, and be warmly welcomed into Christain homes, 
though guilty of dishonest practices, so long there will be no 
occasion for us to marvel that the wicked walk on every side. 
Unprincipled men are honored ; result, wickedness increases. 
Knaves are accorded social equality with honest Christian 
peo})le; consequence, dishonesty is rife. The man who at 
present has no social standing, if he should steal a hundred 
thousand dollars and be known to have done so, but could 
manage to escape the penalties of theft, would immediately 
be received into what we are pleased to consider good society. 
Christians would be courting his company, ministers would be 
flattering him, clerks and bank accountants would consider 
themselves honored by a nod of recognition from his 
daughters. He's wealthy ; that's a cloak that hides a multi- 
tude of sins. Lawyers would grow eloquent over his many 
virtues ; jurors would whitewash his questionable transactions ; 
judges would learnedly descant on the insufQciency of the testi- 
mony, hired sycophants would make community ring with his 
many amiable qualities. If instead of stealing a hundred 
thousand dollars, however, he had stolen a few heads of cab- 
bage, most probably he would have been consigned to prison 
walls, there to learn a few necessary moral lessons. 

There is a sad lack of confidence, we are told. Lack of 
confidence ! there must be some cause for this. He who has 



li HARD TIMES. 

the qualities which command respect will always be respected. 
He who is worthy of confidence will, as a rule, secure the 
confidence of his fellowmen. If lack of confidence has 
become general it can only be, we suppose, because there is no 
basis upon which general confidence can rest. With great 
pertinency we might ask, whether we are likely to lay the 
foundation of restored confidence by encouraging and reward- 
ing dishonesty. If, as a people, we are schooling ourselves to 
that mock form of charity which, forgetting first principles 
and the honor due to honesty even though it may be in hum- 
ble garb, does not hesitate to palliate the rascality of bank offi- 
cials who rob confiding widows and dependent orphans ; nay, 
which even associates on terms of equality with those who 
deliberately cheat a neighbor, or even rob an aged father or a 
widowed mother, we surely cannot expect a speedy restoration 
of confidence, nor an immediate return of prosperous times. 
We may be certain that so long as dishonesty neither incurs 
legal penalties nor acts as an effectual barrier against entrance to 
society, so long it will continue. Nor will it be proper, under 
these circumstances, for us to be denominating our calamities 
judgments of heaven, when they are so manifestly results of 
our own conduct. We reap as we sow. 

Upon reflection I doubt not you will concede that the prev- 
alence of dishonest practices has been caused, in great measure, 
by our neglect in inflicting adequate social and legal penalties 
upon knavery. Is there any valid reason why persons who 
would not steal a dinner should consider themselves honored 
in being invited to eat one purchased by stolen money ? any 
reason why those who would not rob a carpet store should set 
their honest feet beneath the table and upon the carpet pur- 
chased by the proceeds of rascality ? Not till we have ceased 
to reward and honor dishonesty can we expect it to hide its 
head in shame. Not till we have annihilated the causes which 
are producing hard times need we expect a return of prosperity. 
In France, so complete is the social ostracism of those who 



HARD TIMES, 15 

have been guilty of deliberate rascality that they are seldom 
allowed again to enter respectable society ; so galling is the 
disgrace of even innocent bankruptcy, that a son will often 
impoverish himself to pay the debts of his fatlier, thereby 
giving him a passport to society again. It is no doubt owing, 
in great measure, to this high respect paid to lionesty that 
France has been able to astonish the world by the ease with 
which she has paid immense sums to her conqueror. 

Others tell us Hard Times are the result of extravag^ance. 
They assure iis tliat large numbers of the American people 
are living beyond their means. If so, it is a great calam- 
ity. We have been told of gentlemen hastening from broker 
to broker, endeavoring, at a ruinous discount, to raise money 
to keep a note from going to protest, fearing that tlie conse- 
quent examination might reveal their financial rottenness. 
While anxiety is depicted in their features and perspiration is 
standing like beads upon their heated brows, the wife and 
daughters, at some fashionable store, are deciding upon the 
comparative merits of costly articles of jewelry, or are select- 
ing the delicate shades of imported silks, or discussing the 
superior elegance of the latest novelty in furs. 

Those who consider extravagance the cause of our troubles 
affirm that many, in order to live as those who have large 
incomes, are knowingly expending beyond their means, de- 
pending u})on borrowing or upon a return of better times to 
repair their shattered fortunes. If relief is too long delayed 
they occasionally help themselves from employer's drawers. 
Style must be maintained ; honestly if possible ; at least, must 
be maintained. 

Without doubt the failure to perceive that what is prudent 
expenditure for one man, and withal beneficial to society, may 
be excessive extravagance for another, has contributed in no 
slight measure to Hard Times. 

Another cause, '^ The Liquor Traffic," a powerful cause, 
more potent than any one cause yet mentioned. You need 



16 HARD TIMES. 

merely be reminded that, according to the reports of the 
internal revenue, the iiation^s liquor bill for the last three 
years equals the national debt. Evidently this immense waste 
has been by far the most efficient cause in i^roducing Hard 
Times. A wilful waste; a woful want! 

You have no doubt long known that Hard Times are due 
to violations of divine commands. Is it difficult then to per- 
ceive that personal transgressions are certain to incur divine 
punishment? The argument of this discourse, if it has any 
weight, has cogency in recommending an immediate examina^ 
tion into our personal relations to a God of immutable justice. 
If He visits nations with the consequences of their sins, so 
also does He visit individuals. If to the former He shouts 
" Repent, Repent,'^ to the latter He says, '^ Flee for refuge to 
the hope set before you in the Gospel.^^ 

In determining to address you upon a subject so general, it 
has not been my 'purpose to divert attention from personal 
duties, nor to attract the eye from the cross. Nay, I sincerely 
entertain the hope that through this agency I may be enabled 
to quicken awakened souls to inquire after the way of redemp- 
tion. If, as every nation's history proves, it is impossible to 
escape the penalty of violated law, why not seek immediate 
forgiveness of the past in a Saviour's love, and strength for 
the future in divine grace? It maybe that national trans- 
gressions have been abundant and that private sins have been 
sadly numerous ; this, however, far from inducing indifference 
to personal salvation, ought to induce instant action. May 
this sermon and those that follow it be blessed to the con- 
version of souls. Flee to the Saviour. Heaven's judgments 
have no terror for those who are sheltered beneath a Redeem- 
er's love. A struggling Church needs your service; a dying 
world* demands your effijrt; a rejected Saviour awaits your 
decision. 



HARD TIMES. 17 



THE LESSONS THEY TEACH. 

'* Teach me Thy judgments ." — Ps. cxix., 108. 

Hard Times! Yes, times are hard. The machinery of 
society is working badly. The balance-wheel is apparently 
gone; or^ driven by wild fanaticism, is shattering things in 
general, and individual fortunes in particular. Cogs are 
broken, and consequently, by heavy thugs and great strains, 
the stupendous machine is breaking itself to pieces, and grind- 
ing some of its parts to powder. It is high time repairs are 
begun. Put the brakes on the immense driving-wheel, and 
examine carefully the condition of things. It is necessary, 
and the time is opportune. All are ready to lend aid in the 
much needed work. 

Amid much that is excessively disheartening, there are 
encouraging aspects in the present condition of things. It is 
a remarkably favorable time to inculcate moral lessons. The 
minds of all are open, and even eager to receive the truth — 
probably more receptive than they have been for several gen- 
erations. When people are upon their backs, they can only 
look one way — towards heaven. The condition they are in 
forces from them the exclamation, " Speak, Lord, thy servant 
heareth." Accordingly, moral and religious lessons which 
would have commanded no attention a few years since are now 
eagerly examined. We all perceive that evils exist. This is 
the first condition of remedying them. Ten or fifteen years 
ago even a John Knox could not have persuaded us that evils 
existed calling for redress. Now, even dullness itself'per- 
ceives their prevalence and their fatal potency. God has been 
teaching us. When He speaks in His thundering providences, 
even sleepy auditors lend a listening ear. . By hard experience 

B 



18 HARD TIMES. 

He has done what no human preacher could have done — has 
opened our hearts to receive and seriously weigh immutable 
laws anci our relations to them. We now perceive, more 
clearly than it has been perceived for more than half a cen- 
tury, that cent for cent mnst we pay for all our transgressions 
of divine commandments. Adversity has its uses. In God's 
hand it is an instrumentality whereby he teaches great moral 
and religions truths. The Jews, carried as captives to Baby- 
lon, where they mournfully recalled their wanderings, and 
learned lessons which prosperity failed in teaching effectively ; 
the Egyptians, mourning over the death of the first-born in 
every home, and acquiring new revelations of the sacred rights 
of humanity ; tlie nations of Central Europe, after the Thirty 
Years' War, drinking humiliation's cup to the bitter dregs, 
and perceiving that the cause which God defends man cannot 
destroy; the English Catholics, when crushed to the dust and 
repressed by stringent legislation coming by slow degrees to 
acknowledge that God never delegated to a mortal — even 
though religious fanaticism pronounced him Heaven's vice- 
gerent on earth — the right to dictate to the consciences of hun- 
dreds of thousands ; these, and numberless other instances, 
make it apparent that our Maker employs adversity as the 
means of teaching moral truths. 

In masses, human beings are very difficult to instruct, very 
■dull of apprehension, very slow in accepting doctrines that 
are antagonistic to the existing order of things. Individuals 
may be swayed by reason ; masses of men change their opin- 
ions and alter their practices only as driven by stern necessity. 
Consequently, the most valuable lessons nations receive are 
those which are imparted in the school of adversity. The 
richest blessings they enjoy come through the avenues of 
troubfe. To no inconsiderable extent this is true of indi- 
viduals. It was the severity of David's trials that enabled 
him to attain such pre-eminence in religious knowledge. It 
was grief that tuned bis harp to those melodious strains which 



HARD TIMES. 19 

have stirred emotion in the bosoms of so many millions. If 
he had not been the greatest sufferer of his age, he could not 
have become the sweet singer in Israel. Moses, whose entire 
life was one continuous conflict with troubles; Elijah, whose 
existence was embittered by the trials of the time and by the 
relentless persecution of Jezabel ; Daniel, hated, maligned, 
conspired against and cast into the lions' den ; Isaiah, mis- 
represented, buffetted, contemned, derided ; Paul, oppressed 
by poverty, scourged from city to city, environed by perpetual 
perils, thrown into prison and beaten with stripes ; Luther, 
slandered, persecuted, pronounced a monster, badgered, exe- 
crated by half Europe and his life rendered a continuous 
struggle with embittered enemies; John Knox, denounced by 
nearly half Scotland, and persecuted in ways unnumbered and 
innumerable ; Wesley, hunted down by a set of unprincipled 
and unreasonable enemies; these, like nearly all those whose 
lives have proved a blessing to human society, learned price- 
less lessons in adversity, becoming thereby qualified for 
teachers of the race. Except for these trials, they, like others, 
might have been unknown. 

If there had been no such thing as tribulation in the world, 
there would have been an extreme dearth of great men — few, 
indeed, would have been the blessings we could now enjoy. 
Religious liberty sprang from the ashes of the martyrs. Con- 
stitutional government was purchased by blood. The right 
of the masses to an education was wrenched by force from 
the grasp of tyrants. The free redemption now proclaimed 
by the gospel to all, was purchased at no less a price than 
the death of God's Son in human form. Nor can it be 
denied that nearly all of us receive our most priceless bene- 
fits from the hand of adversity. Job, when stripped of his 
wealth, bereft of his children and stricken with loathsome 
disease, might have imagined, " All these things are against 
me ; '' but no, 'Hhe Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than 
the beginning,'' giving him ^^ twice as much as he had before." 



20 HARD TIMES. 

How frequently, after we have stood weeping over the grave 
of wrecked hopes, have we discovered that what we deemed 
an unmixed evil has proved one of our richest blessings. 
What we supposed would result in injuring our fortune, in 
diminishing our happiness, and in breaking down our spirits, 
has unexpectedly enlarged our success, augmented our joys^ 
and furnished a solid basis of continued cheerfulness. 

I. The numerous and sudden changes from riches to pov- 
erty, which are so characteristic of Hard Times, teach us the 
instability of earthly possessions, and tend to increase our 
estimate of heaven's unfailing treasures. Stability in wealth I 
Manifestly there is no such tiling. 

"The spider's most attenuated thread 

Is cord, is cable, to man's lender tie 

On earthly bliss ; it breaks at every breeze." 

In these intense times, when men suspend their all upon 
the success of a single venture, it is no uncommon thing to 
find men rich to-day and poor to-morrow. In the morning 
they count their hoarded gains by thousands. But it is 
^' Black Friday '^ in Wall street, and ere evening their accu- 
mulations have melted away like snow beneath an April sun. 
With their all invested in margins, they confidently counted on 
a rise in stocks ; lo ! there has been a ruinous decline. Pen- 
niless, they retire to a sleepless couch, spending the night in 
excited ejaculations about "puts'' and "calls" and "corners," 
and "bulls" and "bears." One thing is certain, they are 
effectually ruined, and now, at leisure, may reflect upon the 
insecurity of earthly possessions, and prepare moral essays 
upon the folly of reckless speculation and redhot anathemas 
against abounding rascality. They see it now. Failure has 
an almost magic power in opening blind eyes. Success blunts 
the vision to knavery. Had they succeeded, no sermon, even 
an hour long, could have convinced them that these methods 
were dishonest. They failed, however, and now they have 



HARD TIMES, 21 

turned preachers of honesty and righteousness and honorable 
dealing. Their sudden conversion, if lasting, may prove 
exceedingly profitable to them and beneficial to society. Pity 
others could not secure conversion by the same means ! We 
should have an additional reason for considering blessings 
concealed beneatli the rough visage of Hard Times. Even in 
the country, where fortunes are made more slowly and lost 
less suddenly, it not seldom happens that a person purchases 
real estate, mortgaging himself for one-half the purchase 
price, and in a few years without any fault on his part finds 
himself bankrupt. Riches come and go, like the birds in 
spring, that settle now on this branch, now on that, and anon 
are off to distant climes, leaving all the trees songless. In 
the expressive language of Scripture, '^ they make themselves 
wings and fly away," leaving their possessor in darkness, 
despondency and poverty. Is there no lesson in this unstable 
character of riches? Do we not hear God's voice whispering 
in the soul, ^' Make not this fleeting w^orld your portion !'^ 
That which is so evanescent in its nature cannot satisfy an 
immortal being. Secure enduring riches and righteousness. 

So closely are we wedded to earthly possessions that their 
escape from our tightened grasp seems necessary to break their 
potent influence over us, and drive us nearer to God. We 
think little of the sun when its rays are bathing us in their 
gorgeous splendor. When clouds drape the heavens, and 
:fierce storms are breaking upon our unprotected heads ; when 
wounded, almost exhausted, we are ready to sink down by 
the roadside ; when the roar of the angry elements seems like 
a funeral dirge beside the grave of our blasted hopes, then it 
is that we long; for the cheerino^ sun. It is after adversitv 
that our thoughts are turned heavenward. If life were one 
continuous experience of pleasure; if prosperity, unshadowed 
by trouble, were our uninterrupted portion; if there were 
victories without defeats, atid joys without sorrows, we should 
become so cemented to the world that we might feel, if not 



22 HARD TIMES. 

affirm, "Let God give us a long life of unmixed pleasure, and 
we ask no interest in heaven." Indeed, so feeble would become 
the attractions of tlie celestial world that death would be 
almost certain to find us unprepared. The rasping cares of 
life, the sad reverses, the heart-burnings, the discouraging 
disappointments, the emptiness of the most substantial pleas- 
ures and the overwhelming losses that hurl us into the deepest 
abysses of despondency — these are the influences which render 
heaven dear — these the agencies by which we are brought to 
appreciate the unseen treasures of the world of glory. The 
adversities of earth, its trials and its corroding cares are what 
render tliat state where these are never permitted to enter 
peculiarly attractive to our satiated hearts. 

11. Another lesson taught by Hard Times and the trials 
they entail is that true nobility of character is developed by 
adversity. Greatness is the gift of hardships. Prosperity 
tends to effeminacy. Strength is the result of endurancCe 
True piety comes forth from the furnace of affliction. Man- 
liness of character is produced on tribulation's threshing floor. 
Not the " pampered sons of affluence,'^ but they who have 
battled with life's " stern realities," who have wrenched suc- 
cess from the frowning front of adverse circumstances, are the 
men who acquire strength, solidity, influence and power of 
benefiting society. Ardently as we all covet uninterrupted 
prosperity, God could, in fact, send us no heavier curse. It 
would render us indolent, arrogant, grossly wicked, enervated 
in mind, body, conscience and soul. 

We all concede that it is a mistaken kindness in parents to 
gratify every whim of children, imposing no burdens and 
exacting no toil. This, we acknowledge, would more cer- 
tainly ruin them than labor, difficulties and trials. And yet 
we are slow to admit that our Heavenly Father, in permitting 
severe experiences to overtake us, is employing the surest 
agency for developing the manly virtues. And yet how else 
shall he teach us the necessity of economy, perseverance, pru- 



HARD TIMES. 23 

clence, energy and self-reliance ? How rarely are they devel- 
oped by any other means ? Every virtue, like every plant, 
must have appropriate soil in which to grow. Though on the 
bleak hillside and among mountain crags is a poor place to 
cultivate early garden vegetables, the sturdy oak grows there, 
its branches, by fierce Avinds and violent storms, being fitted 
to become keels and beams and ribs in the great ships that 
successfully outride the gale and carry our products to distant 
climes. A hundred feet beneath the surface of the surging 
ocean might be considered a poor place to raise monthly roses, 
but there the coral lives and lays foundations for islands. 
The bare rocks of Greenland and Siberia would be deemed a 
poor place on which to plant sweet elysium, but there grow 
hardy lichens that are capable of sustaining human life. 
Upon prosperity's sunny hilltops is a soil entirely unadapted 
to develop the qualities which constitute true greatness. 
Whatever of grace and of beauty may there be produced, it is 
certain that the sterner virtues, which are so necessary in life, 
are not likely to become conspicuous. These grow on adver- 
sity's bleak hillside, where chilling winds blow, and fierce 
storms rage, and dark clouds lower and forked lightnings 
glitter. My young friend, do not fear adversities ; bravely 
met, they will develop true manliness of character. They are 
the diet upon which great men feed. They who continuously 
feed at prosperity's table become weaklings. " Learn to suffer 
and be strong." 

Perhaps you exclaim, ^' That sounds beautifully, but when 
Hhe arrows of outrageous fortune' are entering the quiver- 
ing flesh it does not feel pleasant." No, but in this world 
suffering goes before happiness, toil before success, anguish 
before joy, struggle before victory, labor before rest, and the 
trials of earth before the bliss of heaven. It was not till 
Moses -had spent forty years in the wilderness, braving dan- 
gers and enduring hardships, that he became leader of the 
Israelites. Not until the Jews had endured bitter serfdom in 



24 HARD TIMES. 

Egypt, did they eat manna from heaven, and enter a land 
flowing with milk and honey. Joseph, persecuted by his 
brethren, cast into a pit, sold to Ishmaelites, hurled into 
a prison, emerged to become the first ruler in the kingdom. 
Had he remained the favored son in Jacobus house, petted and 
indulged, remaining inactive in the sunshine of prosperity, he 
had been utterly disqualified for the responsible [)Osition he 
held in Egypt. The college from which Daniel graduated 
was a royal dungeon. But the lessons he learned in that 
severe training school fitted him for a position which Baby- 
lon's favored princes could not reach ; no, not even by intrigue 
and envy and conspiracy. In great measure it was the hard- 
ships endured by Paul which gave him such marvellous 
strength of character, and rendered his preaching so potent. 
And if we take the pains to trace the influences which in all 
ages have been most instrumental in rendering God's servants 
eminent and useful, we shall not be surprised to hear David 
exclaim, '^ It is good for me that I have been afllicted." 

Nor is the testimony of profane history and of private 
observation less emphatic. Their unmistakable evidence is 
that only adversity can effectually break up the subsoil of 
human character, and sow in the deep furrows left by experi- 
ence the manly virtues that successfully breast the severe 
storms of life. Frederick the Great attributed the successes 
of his later career to the lessons learned in the reverses of his 
early life. Washington's marvellous self-control, his remark- 
able soundness of judgment, his unfaltering faith in the success 
of the cause he had espoused, rest upon a character consoli- 
dated by the severe trials of his earlier days. We need not 
trouble you with a lengthy enumeration. With rare excep- 
tions, the men eminent in business, in statesmanship, in war, 
in letters, at the bar, in the pulpit, and on the farm, are those 
who conquered success by virtue of the lessons learned in 
adversity's school. Who are our merchant princes of to-day ? 
They who were poor boys once. Who are our best states- 



HARD TIMES, 25 

men? Though it cannot be denied that unselfish, far-seeing 
statesmen, untrammelled by fetters of party, are quite rare, 
still, the few we have ascended the hill of fame with bleeding 
feet, acquiring hardihood and strength by rongh experience. 
Compelled to carve for themselves a pedestal on which to 
stand between the contending waves of party factions, they 
have been, and still are, the best abused men in the country. 
Who own the best farms ? As a rule, those who started in 
life poor, honest, economical, industrious, self-reliant, strug- 
gling manfully and long ere the victory came ; defeated often, 
but successful at last. 

'"Tis by defeat we conquer, 

Grow rich by growing poor. 
And from our greatest sufferings 

We draw our largest store." 

Does not the same principle hold true in Christian life ? Is 
it not through the bitterness of our experience, through dis- 
appointments, sorrows, straggles, reverses, that the Christian 
acquires moral strength, courage to dare, patience to enchire, 
faith to hope, charity to others, reliance upon God, and assur- 
ance of heaven ? 

"'Tis thus we rise by setting, 

Tho' darkness reach our day ; 
Our own way liourly losing 

To find the eternal way." 

Let US not murmur, then, under the trials of the hour. 
They may develop a degree of strength which will be 
immeasurably more beneficial than the fleeting riches that 
may have slipped from our envious grasp. Let us learn to 
bear the yoke, bear it bravely, bear it patiently, and we shall 
one day wear the crown. 

It is true, we may have less wealth, fewer luxuries, more 
trials, and severer embarrassments than in former years, but, 
as a consequence, we may be growing in all the manly virtues, 
in solid comfort, in genuine piety, in pre})aration for the world 



26 HARD TIMES. 

where we shall be estimated by what we are, not by what we 
have. Here, alas ! it too often happens that people are esti- 
mated by their possessions ! In the scales of eternity, how- 
ever, worth alone has Aveight. If^ as cannot be denied, 
adversity is better fitted than prosperity to give us these, let 
us not murmur uureasonably under the pressure of Hard 
Times. These may be the agency by which divine benevo- 
lence is schooling us for sliining mansions in the city whose 
foundations are unshaken by financial convulsions. 

III. Hard Times teach us the necessity of exercising fore- 
thought for eternity. In the present we are able, as seldom 
before, to perceive the advantages of prudent looking ahead. 
They who saw the storm coming and prepared to meet it, 
have been best able to endure its fury. Those who kept con- 
stantly saying, '^To-morrow will be as to-day, and much more 
abundant," have gone down under the winds and the waves. 
If, as all now perceive, a good degree of forethought is 
necessary to a successful voyage across the sea bounded 
toward the rising sun by infancy, towards the setting by old 
age, then assuredly we cannot fail to infer that forethought 
is imperatively demanded, if we are to guide our frail 
bark in safety over life's tempestuous ocean into eternity's safe 
harbor. 

If, in our pecuniary transactions, we manifest prudence, in 
having regard to the contingencies of the future, is it possible 
we should be blind to the wisdom of endeavoring to deter- 
mine our condition in eternity by the character of our conduct 
in time. Shall a man plan for to-morrow, and not for an 
endless existence; adopt a course of action which he hopes 
shall render him wealthy ten or twenty years hence, but be 
entirely indifferent to that which may enrich or impoverish 
him in eternity? Indeed, the very possibility of exercising 
forethought in reference to the future of life is presumptive 
evidence that we may do the same as regards the life beyond. 

For want of premeditation, how many are financially 



HARD TIMES. 27 

ruined ! They ran with the multitude, accepted as infallible 
the teachings that dropped from unreflecting lips, or were 
hypocritically inculcated by those who desired to reap advan- 
tages from promulgating short-lived errors. Change the 
scene. Conceive, if you will, that time was but eternity is. 
Before the throne of immutable justice stand the crowded 
hosts of earth. Alas ! what numbers, as the result of lackmg 
forethought, are bankrupt forever ! They lived for time, and 
are consequently unprepared for eternity. Forgetting that 
God^s people regulate their lives by the unchanging principles 
of an unseen world, and preferring to accept the guidance of 
doctrines bred in the school of unstable policy, they went 
with the multitude to do evil, and silenced the occasional 
reproofs of conscience by the reflection that they were as well 
prepared as others — now comes the startling revelation^ 
" Only those ^vho sowed to the spirit shall reap life everlast- 
ing!'^ The disclosures of that great day! Who shall be 
found to have passed an earthly existence without due regard 
to the endless beyond ? 

The stringency of the present reveals the wisdom of those 
who practiced such economy as enabled them to lay up for 
future use. Those who prudently saved from their earnings 
and wisely invested their savings, have been able to pass 
through the Hard Times without feeling them so heavily as 
the spendthrift class. And if there is prudence in accumu- 
lating for future use, surely we cannot fail to perceive that 
there is wisdom in laying up treasures in heaven. Wise to 
prepare for the future of a brief lifetime, then it cannot be 
foolish to prepare for an endless existence. 

Moreover, preparation in the latter case has this advantage, 
our riches are invested where no calamity can befall them. 
Banks may fail, real estate may depreciate, railroads may 
become bankrupt, manufacturing interest may become seriously 
depressed, business paper may become Avorthless, mining stocks 
valueless, but the riches of the redeemed are secure, eternally 



28 HARD TIMES. 

enduring, "laid up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust 
corrupt/^ 

The reverses of the present have a tendency to wean our 
affections from material things, and centre them on spiritual. 
We need adversity to shake our hold on earth and earthly 
things, that the tendrils of our hearts may twine round 
the cross and enable us to climb heavenward. When the 
world and love of its vanities occupy our hearts, our Lord, 
and the religion he recommends are crowded out. But when 
reverses have in some measure destroyed the spirit of worldli- 
ness, then it is our hearts pant after God, after the living God. 

Christian friends, endurance of trials is that from which 
we shall never be exempt while in the flesh. Tribulations 
are our inheritance. Let us learn, then, to bear them heroic- 
ally, uncomplainingly. Properly received, patiently endured, 
and wisely reflected upon, they may become stepping-stones 
in our ascent to mansions of paradise. Alas ! if not surmounted, 
they may become weights upon the soul that shall bear it 
down into despondency here, and into hopelessness hereafter. 

My young friends, though indisposed to be a prophet of 
evil, and disinclined to cast even one shadow across the cheer- 
fulness of your buoyant spirits, I nevertheless cannot conceal 
from myself the thought that in a world where reverses are 
more frequent than successes, and sorrows more numerous 
than joys, difficulties and disappointments must necessarily 
await you. As they come, may you have the grace to meet 
them bravely, and surmount them nobly. Ere your heads 
shall be whitening and your eyes failing, may you have learned 
that the difficulty is half conquered that is bravely met by 
trusting in God. And when, as may easily happen, the wail 
of Hard Times is sounding over the graves of those of us 
who have passed middle life, may it be your privilege, speak- 
ing from experience, to say to the young : " Adversity has its 
lessons; it is not an unmixed evil; let trouble bring you 
nearer to God, and heaven's rewards are yours." 



HARD TIMES. 29 



THE SPIRIT IN WHICH TO BEAR THEM. 

" Charity ^' * ^ "''" beareih all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
things, endureth all things." — I. Cor., xiii., 7. 

The secret of success, wherein does it consist ? The art of 
amassing a fortune, who is qualified to give instructions in 
this ? 

Though few grow wealthy the process is simple. The rules 
to be observed are neither numerous nor difficult to under- 
stand — work hard, improve small opportunities, avoid debt, 
save a little from each year's earnings, be sufficiently resolute 
to live in a style corresponding with your income. 

Wealth is more easily attained than any other object after 
which men ordinarily strive. Success as a scholar, an artist, 
a statesman, an orator, a poet, a professional man, is always 
difficult, because there are many arduous conditions. But to 
become rich one has merely to resolve on practicing such 
economy as will permit him to lay by a little each year, and 
then exercise due discretion in its investment. Two hundred 
dollars saved when one is twenty-five, and compounded at 
six per cent, interest, becomes $2,050 when the possessor has 
reached sixty-five. If, after earning and investing the $200 
he does nothing more than make a living he has a snug pro- 
vision for old age. And what young man is there who, for 
the four years between twenty-one and twenty-five is not able 
to lay by an average of fourteen cents a day ? Most young 
men are spending more than that in folly. Why do they 
refuse to save it ? The answer most would give is, '' A sum 
so insignificant is not worth saving.'' But the results it will 
produce are not contemptible, independence in old age and 
exemption from the pinchings of the next period of Hard 



30 HARD TIMES, 

Times. There is probably scarcely a young man in this com- 
munity who conld not^ in the next five years, lay the founda- 
tions of an ample fortune. And since wealth is power, a 
means of living a more earnest Christian life, and of serving 
both God and man more effectively, I hesitate not to mention 
it on the Lord's day and from the sacred desk. It may do 
more towards raising up workers for Christ than some meta- 
physical disquisition respecting the hypostatic union, or learned 
comments about the rams' horns used at Jericho's overthrow. 

It is no doubt too much to hope that all are willing to pay 
the price of subsequent independence. Hard Times, however, 
have taught us the advantages of economy. They have taught 
us that those who are willing to practice this old-fashioned 
Christian virtue till they secure a good start in life, and will 
afterwards avoid debt as they would the small-pox, may sub- 
sequently have all they should reasonably desire, no matter 
how stringent the money market may be. But he who refuses 
in early life to practice economy from principle, shall, in all 
likelihood, be compelled during nearly all his days to practice 
it from stern necessity. In this world there is a competency 
for nearly every one who will pay the price. And economy, 
which may be defined as living within one's means and 
saving a little each year, is a Christian virtue, a duty one 
owes to his family, to himself, to his friends, to the Church 
and to society. 

As we have already seen, another lesson taught by Hard 
Times is self-reliance. 

"Those few, to whom is given what they ne'er earned, 
Know not, nor ever can, the generous pride 
That glows in him who on himself relies." 

Inherited wealth is often a title, deed to laziness. Too 
many helps given by parents are the means of producing 
spindle-legged dandies and feeble women, who need those 
modern inventions, elevators, to lift them to the upper stories 



HARD TIMES, 31 

in society^s great building. Those who have learned to 
depend upon themselves, their own physical, mental and 
moral strength, shall be able to fight their gwn battles, as 
their successful fathers did. The man who has been taught 
to rely upon himself can with difficulty be brought to thrust 
his hand into his neighbor's pocket, or turn rotten politician 
sooner than earn an honest living by work. He is a self- 
reliant man, with hardened muscles, a brave heart, a strong 
purpose and a willing hand. 
Who are they that 

" Dive into the bottom of the deep 

And drag up drowned honor by the locks ?" 

Are they the sons of the wealthy who were dandled in the 
lap of ease? are they those who have always leaned upon 
crutches handed them by over-indulgent parents ? JSi o ! they 
are those who have graduated from hardship's school, who 
have fed on trials, who have experienced less of sunshine than 
of storm^ less of the sweet fondlings of fortune that makes 
weaklings than of the rough tossings of hard-fisted adversity 
that produces giants. Undoubtedly, it is one of the misfor- 
tunes of the present that young men commence life under too 
many advantages. Hard Times, however, by teaching us 
that adversity, especially to the young, is a blessing in dis- 
guise, may correct this, thereby greatly benefitting the class 
upon which the future of the nation and the Church depends. 
As we have seen, another lesson emphasized by the present 
stringency is that what the world denominates success may be 
only brilliant failure; what it pronounces failure may be 
truest success. Some one has well said, ^^ I confess that 
increasing years bring with them an increasing respect for 
men who do not succeed in life, as those words are commonly 
used." Possibly their failure in securing worldly success may 
have been owing to a conscience too sensitive, a judgment too 
clear, an independence of character too great, piety too genu- 



32 HARD TIMES. 

ine, and modesty too retiring. If they declined to sacrifice 
honor^ integrity and character for riches — refused to barter 
the imperishable for the perishable — they deserved success^ 
and that in some cases is better than securing it. Nay, they 
have success more genuine than if they were residing in a 
palace while their names were dishonored ; than if they were 
flattered by those who delight to bask in the sunshine of 
prosperity but were compelled to retire at night burdened by 
the reflection that their conduct had aided in bringing about 
that condition of society in which ^^ truth is fallen in the streets 
and equity cannot enter.'^ Even to one who is forced to con- 
cede that in a worldly point of view his life has been a partial 
failure, there is such a thing as success for eternity. 

" He who acts as conscience cries, 
Shall live, though dead." 

These and kindred lessons occupied our thoughts on Sab- 
bath last; to-day we invite your attention to the spirit in 
which Hard Times should be borne. 

They should be borne in a spirit of cheerfulness. This 
Christian grace, love to God, which '^ beareth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things," is characterized from 
its inception to its full maturity by subdued cheerfulness. It 
may be well to bear in mind that even among those who are 
thoroughly convinced that trials work out ultimate benefits,^ 
there are great diversities of dispositions and wide differences 
in the degree of resignation manifested. Some there are whose 
souls are so continuously filled with sunshine that even the 
densest clouds of the longest day of adversity are not permitted 
to cast shadows over their undisturbed spirits. As we contem- 
plate their comparative exemption from anguish, one consid- 
eration may perhaps prevent us from the sin of coveting their 
disposition. If they are so constituted as not to pass through 
the shaded valley, they are most probably seldom upon the 
hilltops of joy. The possibility of entering the deepest depths 



HA ED TIME 8, 33 

of anguish is almost uniformly associated with the capability 
of soaring to the highest summits of happiness. Those who 
suffer much at some periods are generally those who enjoy 
much at others. In earthly happiness, as in everything else, 
there is a kind of equilibrium. 

Others there are who spend much of their time in an almost 
impenetrable gloom. They journey over the rough stones on 
life's highway, through the* sharp thorns by the roadside; 
clouds are above them, difficulties around them, and a cheer- 
less grave at the journey's end. They are strongly disposed 
to spend more time in murmuring under the ills of life than 
in praising God for its blessings ; more breath in sighs than 
in prayers ; more pains in rendering themselves miserable than 
in cheering humanity and in sweetening life's bitterness. 

Of the two ways of viewing things, the gloomy and the cheer- 
ful, there are few indeed who are not able to perceive decided 
advantages in the latter. It fits one for bearing calamities, 
aids in smoothing the pathway to success, strengthens the 
heart for the endurance of trials, and clears the vision for 
perceiving the open passage out of encircling difficulties. It 
fortifies the conscience, gives back-bone to the will and cements 
friendships. Why do people feed the unsightly and unclean 
monster, melancholy, as if it were a bird of paradise ? To 
appearances, some seem to consider gloominess as a near rela- 
tive of piety. To smile is, in their judgment, almost a crime, 
nearly as much so as back-biting, tattling and tale-bearing. 
But some one responds, to be cheerful under all circumstances 
is an impossibility. So it indeed is. That, however, is no 
reason why one should not strive to cultivate the disposition. 
When bills are overdue, the table breadless, the coat thread- 
bare, and the children shoeless, is a poor time to bid adieu to 
cheerfulness. Then one needs all the courage which this 
Christian grace can impart. And indeed, what right has one 
to be melancholy ? Is the grass black because there are clouds 
overhead ? Are the leaves of the trees a lurid red because 



34 HARD TIMES. 

storms are raging ? Are the meadows blue as indigo because 
the adjacent rivulet is running over hard pebbles ? 

Hard Times should be- borne in the spirit of faith. With 
unshaken trust in God, it is marvellous how unperturbed one 
may be amid the surges of fortune's sea. To him whose soul 
is anchored on the eternal Rock, riches may come or go, for- 
tune may smile or frown, friends may crowd around in the 
season of adversity or may desert, kindness may load us with 
its caresses or may be supplanted by that harshness whose 
tones chill the soul, the spirit of appreciation may laud our 
noble endeavors, or the tongue of malice may shoot bitter 
words and create wide-spread misapprehension in reference to 
the character we possess and the spirit that rules our lives — 
still, come what may, he who retains an immovable faith in a 
Heavenly Father's guidance enjoys a degree of peace which 
wealth is powerless to impart. The principle of love to God, if 
regnant, creates a measure of faith which induces the convic- 
tion that " all things work together for good.'' " All things'^ 
— sorrows no less than joys, reverses as well as successes, trials 
even more conspicuously than silk-slippered fortune. It 
prompts us to accept everything that happens as from the 
hand of our Father above. Singly, many of our trials are 
evidently working temporary misfortune, are producing keen 
anguish ; but unitedly they may be working for us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 

In the darkness of these trying times let us have faith to 
believe that ^' God of His goodness has prepared for the poor." 
From the full horn of plenty he has always bestowed enough 
for all the children of men. We may look upon it as a remark- 
able display of Divine benevolence, that though, owing to 
man's indolence or improvidence some sections have experi- 
enced the pinchings of hunger — certain classes even enduring 
the agonies of lingering starvation — there has never been a 
time in the w^orld's history, so far as is known, when the pro- 
ducts of agriculture, taking the earth as a whole, have not 



HARD TIMES, 35 

been amply sufficient for all. He has prepared at his bounti- 
ful table for all — not merely for the rich and the great, but 
for the poor and the humble as well. Let us have the faith to 
believe that the Hand that gave us being will also supply our 
bread. 

Unless we mistake, he is comparatively blind, who does not 
perceive a bright future before this country, a good time com- 
ing, and that we are now preparing ourselves for entrance upon 
it. Are we not cultivating the character which ensures success ? 
Young men of honesty, energy, truthfulness, perseverance 
and prudence are growing up around us. Have we not, then, 
the right to anticipate a return of good times ? Let us have 
the faith that will lift the soul above the discouragements of 
the present and paint the future in brighter colors. If faith, 
which is " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen," has proved a potent instrumentality in • 
conquering difficulties and distilling blessings; if it has 
" subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained prom- 
ises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of 
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness acquired 
strength, and waxed valiant in fight,'^ then assuredly it will 
aid very materially in smoothing the asperities of life and in 
making the future such as we ardently hope it may be. How- 
ever trying our experiences may be, let us retain faith in 
God's goodness. 

'' That cheerful watcher through the night 

Soothing the grief from which she may not flee ; 

A herald of gladness ; a seraph bright, 
Pointing to sheltering heavens yet to be." 

Though you may have lost all else, riches, comforts, friends, 
health and spirits : 

" Guard thy faith with holy care, 
Mystic virtues slumber there." 



36 HARD TIMES, 

Hard Times should be borne in the spirit of hope. Since 
trae love to God prompts us to hope all things, certainly 
it may strengthen us to endure the trials of the present 
in the assured conviction that the night must be suc- 
ceeded by the dawn. The more intense the darkness, 
the more brilliant by contrast will be the brightness of 
the coming morn. In the past history of nations, and in 
the past of our own history, periods of unusual depression 
have been succeeded by seasons of unwonted elevation. 
Though on the ocean beach it may be low tide to-day, it is 
certain there will be a high tide ere long. The ship may 
be grating on the bottom and springing aleak at nearly every 
seam ; a few hours later, on the bosom of a full ocean, it may 
be spreading sails for another voyage. Let us have patience, 
hope on, wait in preparation, and by the time we are well 
ready to receive the favor our Heavenly Father will send us 
a tidal wave of prosperity. 

Why all this worry that wears away life far more than 
incessant toil? Why this gloom that brings religion into 
reproach as though it could not comfort under life's ills ? 
You respond : " Because things are not as we would like to 
have them." No ! and never will be. No head lies easy till 
it is pillowed in the tomb. Meanwhile why worry over what 
we cannot help ? Better surrender at once to the inevitable 
and be cheerful. Why worry over what we can help? Sum- 
mon energy, and put things as you would like to have them. 
Do the best you can in the present. 

" Who does the best his circumstance allows, 
Does well, acts nobly ; angels could do no more." 

Hope for the future and good cheer will take the place of 
corroding melancholy. A poor boy while sweeping the snow 
from a lady's door-steps, was asked : '^ Don't you fear God 
will let you starve ?" Looking up into her face he asked : 

^' Do you think God will let me starve when I do my best, 

• 



HARD TIMES, 37 

and then trust Him ?" Have we less disposition to do our best 
than this homeless, friendless lad? or less faith in our Heavenly 
Father ? It cannot be. Then assuredly 

" Hope will dawn on effort 

Like another morning risen on mid-noon." 

The spirit of hope so warmly commended as an efficient 
instrumentality in bearing the burdens of Hard Times is not 
an agency which we can afPord to despise. Indeed, what would 
life be without it ? scarcely less than a night of sorrow whose 
agonies were interruj^ted by a dream of despair. It is the 
beauteous virgin that stands in the pathway of youth, beck- 
oning onward, nerving to renewed exertions, and filling the 
future with pictures of brilliant success. She stands beside 
man in middle life as he grapples with trials, pointing upwards. 
As the mother leans, bathed in tears, over the cradle where 
her darling is struggling with death, the angel of hope hovers, 
above, whispering of heaven, and of a happy reunion there. 
With the aged Christian, as he totters on his staff, she is pres- 
ent, reminding him that there is a world where an enfeebled 
intellect, a failing memory, whitened locks and trembling 
limbs shall renew their youth. In the chamber where the 
good man meets his fate she erects her throne, bidding him 
remember that life and immortality have been brought to 
light in the Gospel. Amid the mourners at the open grave, 
cheerful and undisturbed, she exclaims : " Jesus is the resur- 
rection and the life.'^ 

Possessing these three, cheerfulness, faith, hope, we may 
^' endure all things,'^ exalting our view above the present with 
its changing vanities, and fixing it on the unchanging realities 
of the eternal future. 



38 HARD TIMES. 



HOW TO MAKE THEM GOOD. 

" Come let us return unto the Lord : for He hath torn, and He will heal us; 
He hath smitten, and He will hind up." — Hosea vi., 1. 

How shall this nation ; which is torn and smitten ; which 
is wounded and sick ; which has been drinking wine of 
humiliation and eating ashes of grief; which has been passing 
through an unusually severe and long- protracted period of 
Hard Times — how shall it secure a return of prosperous 
times ? By retracing the steps taken in departing from the 
Lord. How may this be done? 

I. By obliterating the effects of the war. This^ which is 
one of the most severe scourges by which human society is 
chastised, left us burdened with three armies — an army of 
cripples, an army of mourners and an army of rascals. With 
the mourners we are willing to sympathize. The cripples we 
are able to support. Are we willing to hurl the knaves from 
the high social and political positions which they occupy, and 
consign them to oblivion? Unless we are, our return to bet- 
ter times will be slow and arduous ; our ho23e for a cessation 
of divine judgment, however ardent it may be, must neces- 
sarily be long deferred. 

Natural kindness of disposition may prompt many of us 
to feel a keen regret for the misfortunes of some whose names 
have suffered dishonor, who have passed from the communion 
table to contempt, perhaps from envied positions in society 
to confinement within prison walls; but if we are deeply 
anxious for a return of prosperous times, and withal have due 
regard to the honor of the Christian name, we will not 
mourn long because they, like Judas, have gone to their own 
place. Society, far from being advantaged, is seriously 
injured by the presence of successful knaves, especially if 
they occupy prominent positions and enjoy the esteem of the 



HARD TIMES.' 39 

community ; and manifestly the Church cannot afford to per- 
mit rascality to conceal itself beneath the sacred robes of 
religion. Even the most irreligious, however indisposed they 
may be to aid in supporting religious services, can afford to 
give liberally better than they can afford to permit knavery 
to purchase the sanction of Christian people. Their sacrifices 
will be lighter than if, in consequence of neglecting their 
obligations to the Cluirch, dishonest persons shall come to 
control it, thereby permitting knavery to attain temporary re- 
spectability. We look upon it as one of the calamities of the 
times, that the Church in this nation, instead of being sup- 
p(n"ted by the small contributions of the many, is brought 
under pecuniary obligations to the wealthy few, in some 
instances to those who have proved defaulters. If all would 
come up manfully to the work, dishonesty might be relieved 
from the opportunity of })urchasing forgiveness by large pew 
rents. It is an almost measureless calamity, when, as has 
frequently happened in the last few years, persons are found 
prominent in Christian churches, who are embezzlers of bank 
funds, conspicuous in ring frauds, or adepts in manipulating 
grand juries so as to shield themselves from the penalties 
their conduct merited. 

It will be a bright day for this nation when the dishonesty 
consequent upon the war, is forced to hide its head in shame ; 
a day of glad rejoicing when the honest poor contribute their 
mites to the Lord's treasury and invite rascality, however 
liberal it may be, to take a back seat. May the time soon 
come when a person's position in the Church at least is 
determined solely by the character possessed; when riches 
will neither engender envy, nor purchase a religious cloak 
with which to cover wrong ; when a poor man will neither 
be excused from obeying divine commands because he is not 
rich, nor hindered by simple poverty from holding the most 
responsible position ; when he whose character is most Christ- 
like will command the highest esteem. * 

In the same grave with our dead idol, paper currency less 



40 HARD TIMES, 

than par, let us bury her children — speculation, extravagance 
and commercial dishonesty. Let us dig a long, deep, broad 
sepulchre in some mountain glen and bury them beyond the 
reach of resurrection. Let naught but the howling winds 
mourn their decease; nothing but the ghosts of shattered 
fortunes visit their detested tomb; nothing but shrunken 
knavery skulk thither in midnight darkness to shed tears 
over the execrated spot. 

As preparatory to an era of good times, political corruption, 
another effect of the war, must be strangled. O that the time 
may soon dawn when we shall be able to bid an everlasting 
adieu to those cringing creatures, fit only to move in the slime 
of human society, who patronizingly pat men on the back, 
slip a coin into their hands, treat them to bad whiskey, or 
promise some political office, and lost to all feelings of self- 
respect, whine out, " Vote for me f when office seeks men 
and not men office ; when integrity of character and capability 
constitute fitness for holding responsible positions; when as a 
people we shall detest those who, by the employment of money 
succeed in thwarting the will of the people, dishonor God, 
stupefy the public conscience and endanger the continuance of 
free institutions. 

Some one, perhaps, responds, " If these changes are to take 
place ere good times return we shall not live to witness their 
advent." The dawn of better days is not dependent, how- 
ever, upon the completion of these changes, but upon their 
inauguration. Once fairly introduced, they will gradually 
reach consummation. Even were it otherwise we need not 
necessarily grow disheartened. An eternal embodiment of 
justice still reigns, and when once the people become aroused 
— and they are rapidly awakening — there will be some heavy 
cannonading, some glittering flashes of destroying lightning ; 
when the clouds clear away political corruption will lie a 
mangled corpse. The public though patient is not all-suffer- 
ing. Our Heavenly Father, though he beareth long with 



HARD TI3IE8. 41 

national iniquities, punishes them severely, and often sud- 
denly when the time of vengeance comes. An injured people, 
when thoroughly aroused, make short work. Sudden con- 
vulsions are by no means rare. 

It seems to be an undeniable fact that there are alternating 
waves of morality and immorality ; times when even good 
men fall into the habit of practicing and endorsing penlclous 
principles; times when bad men, in self-defence, become 
strenuous defenders of a lofty standard of public morality. 

How shall we make times good ? 

II. By restoring confidence between man and man. This, 
unfortunately, has been sadly shaken, and little wonder, for 
not a few who have stood high in public esteem, have even 
been prominent as examples in morals and in piety, have been 
weighed and found wanting. Consequently people anxiously 
ask, whom can we trust? Certainly there are large numbers 
of strictly honest people. Comparatively few of us have 
been deliberately swindled. Nay, very many of those who 
are unable to pay their debts are entirely honest, so far at 
least as their intentions go. While we can with difficulty be 
too severe upon the really guilty, wholesale denunciation, by 
tending to destroy confidence, is exceedingly injurious. Its 
natural result is to destroy credit, to make us distrust every 
one, and every one distrust us. 

How restore confidence ? By the cultivation of personal 
character entirely deserving confidence. Let this disposition 
become general and we shall hear fewer complaints than now. 
If the farmer will make his ground fertile he will have little 
occasion to murmur over the smallness of the crops. If the 
business man will conduct his business with energy and pru- 
dence. In most Instances he will be relieved from spending 
idle breath in complaining. He who assiduously cultivates 
the character which commands respect, will be respected. 
He who sincerely endeavors to cultivate the graces of the 
Christian will seldom be called upon to mourn that the world 



42 HARD TIMES. 

does not appreciate them. Accordingly, if, as a people, we 
are stndioiisly cultivating and practicing principles of integ- 
rity, we need have no fear in reference to confidence between 
man and man. Give us the cause and the effect will follow. 

III. Another powerful instrumentality in securing a return 
of good times is the prevalence of a determination on the part 
of every one to live upon the fruits of his own industry. 
We are told that at present out of every five two are idlers, 
living upon the earnings of others. This we look upon as an 
over estimate of the idle class. Still the undeniable fact 
remains that many, judging from their conduct, seem to 
imagine that others' industry should support them in idleness. 
"If a man will not work, neither shall he eat." The justice 
of this is apparent to those who after planning carefully and 
toiling assiduously have given of their savings to the poor 
only to find tlmt they have increased evils which they hoped 
to remove; that instead of encouraging them to do for them- 
selves, the painful indisposition to work has become a chronic 
disease. To give to the needy is indeed a pleasant privilege. 
To induce them to become self-reliant and self supporting 
under all circumstances is to confer a greater blessing upon 
them, and as well upon society. 

IV. Another agency in making times good. Fill the 
sanctuaries of the land with earnest worshippers. Possibly, 
some fail in seeing the connection between financial prosperity 
and full Churches. Perhaps they are disposed to ask, "Does 
not the maintenance of the Church entail pecuniary burdens?'^ 
Certainly it does, and what is more, we may have too many 
churches and far too great extravagance in their construction. 
And yet we should not close our eyes to the fact that the annual 
liquor bill of this nation is very much larger than the amount 
expended in building churches and school-houses and in sup- 
porting ministers and teachers. 

As an investment, there is nothing this country can do 
which will yield a more profitable return — not alone in char- 



HARD TIMES. 43 

acter and intelligence^ but in material prosperity — than main- 
tain Churches where an unadulterated gospel is preaclied, and 
schools where a good education is imparted. Observe, we are 
not commending magnificant piles of brick and stone, but 
comfortable buildings where all may meet to worship God ; 
are not endorsing all that passes under the name of Gospel, 
but the unperverted truth as it comes from Scrij)ture; are not 
affirming that our present system of public instruction is 
faultless, but simply that it is good, necessary and exceed- 
ingly advantageous. The Church and the school are institu- 
tions which modern civilization can never dispense with. 
Alas! in this country there is still a vast field for their 
operation. Great as has been our progress, especially in the 
last twenty-five years, there yet remaineth much land to be 
possessed. These are the two agencies which, under the 
blessing of Heaven, have made us to differ from the bar- 
barous races ; these are the instrumentalities which have 
elevated us above the condition of our savage ancestors in 
Europe. The nearly measureless difference between savages 
of the present day and ourselves is due, not to native intelli- 
gence, for in this they are our equals ; not to physical strength, 
in this they are our superiors ; not to the power of endurance, 
in this they surpass us. The difference is attributable to the 
Gospel and to the priceless benefits it has conferred upon us. 
We are what we are because we are in the enjoyment of its 
blessed privileges. 

Accordingly, it is not improper for me to remind you of the 
claims of the Church upon the country. As an educator it 
has never had an equal. Besides what it has done in estab- 
lishing systems of free instruction, in organizing private 
schools and founding and endowing colleges, as an educator 
of the public in her own immediate province she has wielded 
an immense influence. Indeed, the person who will attend 
her services, take an interest in her Sunday School instruction, 
and occupy a place in her prayer meetings will acquire an 



44 BARB TIMES, 

almost invaluable education. He will be greatly benefitted 
even for this life, and, best of all, may lay a good foundation 
for the hope of a better. 

Those, therefore, who neglect the sanctuary do themselves 
an irreparable injury. As a class, they voluntarily doom 
themselves to moderate success here and to a rayless eternity 
beyond. Nay, their neglect is not merely a calamity to them, 
but a serious detriment to the progress of society. It is a 
painful fact that some classes have to be benefitted in spite of 
themselves ; have to be lifted as a dead weight to a higher 
level; while some are supporting the Church, and gladly, 
hopefully doing so, others are declining to reap the benefits 
gratuitously proffered them. 

But you ask, "How will the filling of the sanctuaries con- 
vert hard times into good times?'' Yery readily. If we 
return unto God, He will return unto us. If we should 
become a nation of earnest, sincere, consistent Christians, 
confidence would be restored, industry would take tlie place 
of idleness, economy would supplant reckless extravagance, 
l)rosperity would displace thriftlessness. What we need is a 
sincere and hearty return to God, and the consequent practice 
of the common duties of life. Of merely theoretical religion 
we have an abundance ; of practical there is a deficiency. 

y. We need to cultivate personal piety. By piety, how- 
ever, is not meant mere religious emotion. That is as power- 
less in bettering the condition of society as the superstitions of 
the heathen. Holy methods of serving Satan, of which there 
are many, are nevertheless the service of the evil one. If one 
is to be cheated, he would a little rather be cheated by one 
who has the manliness to make no pretence to piety, than by 
one who adopts religious ways of doing the same thing. Of 
all frauds, pious frauds are the worst. Religion boastingly 
displayed in words, while the conduct does not correspond 
therewith, is powerless ; but when modestly exhibited in busi- 
ness transactions it is potent for good. What the age needs 



HARD TIMES. 45 

is piety which vaunts itself less, and pays a hundred cents to 
the dollar; which shouts glory hallelujah less loudly, but 
deals honestly, loves mercy and walks humbly with God ; 
which having too high respect for religion to introduce it 
irreverently amid business negotiations, has sufficient fidelity 
to religious principle to make it manifest in actions. Words 
are cheap. They only cost a little breath. Actions, which 
cost something, are the true test of piety. " Not every one 
who saith. Lord, Lord, but he who doeth the will of God.'^ 

We all acknowledge that what is needed is religious prin- 
ci})le. How shall we secure it ? By cultivation. How con- 
vince the world that it exists? By unostentatious fidelity to 
it. Christ said to His professing people, '' Ye are a city set 
u})on a hill.'^ A city does not need a herald who shall stand 
in some conspicuous place and shout : " This is a city ; we 
are better than other cities ; we are God\s chosen people ; ours 
is a lofty moral standard ; Heaven's principles rule our lives." 
Dismiss the herald, save wasted breath. If the place can't 
prove itself a city by actions, it certainly can't by words. 
Those who transact business in her marts will form their 
opinions entirely independent of what the herald may be 
shouting. 

Again the Master says, "Ye are the light of the world.'' 
Do we need some one who shall stand upon the summit of a 
lofty mountain and through a brazen trumpet shout: "The 
sun is shining." Its shining will be manifest in the effects 
produced, in springing grass, blooming trees and ripeiiing 
grain. "Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt needs no loud- 
mouthed herald to proclaim its presence. This is proved by 
the effects it noislessly produces. 

The keen-eyed world, it is true, is quite proficient in dis- 
covering blemishes in Christian character. It seems disposed 
to forget that there is no such thing as human perfection ; 
that there are few obligations resting upon Christians which 
do not rest with equal force upon others. To those inclined 



46 HARD TIMES. 

towards a religion which consists in picking flaws in others 
the Bible exclaims, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
perish/^ It is well to remember that other men's failings can 
never save us. If Christians are noc what they should be 
they nevertheless have sufficient grace,, it is hoped, to rejoice 
in the manifestation of living godliness wherever it may be, 
within the fold or without it. 

One fact will scarcely be denied, the best people in every 
community are deeply interested in the Church and are strug- 
gling earnestly to benefit society. Can any good reason be 
assigned why those who are so much interested in genuine 
religion as to spend time and energy in dragging to the light 
all the inconsistencies which mar the beauteous temple of God, 
should not employ their talents in the more laudable endeavor 
to exemplify true piety ? Far more good can be accomplished 
in presenting the world a faultless model than by pointing out 
defects in the models it has. If eminently consistent lives 
are exhibited, none will rejoice more than Christians. If the 
best of God's people embark in the contemptible business of 
hounding down those who are sincerely endeavoring to obey 
divine commands, they will be found doing what even their 
most malignant enemies have never charged them with doing. 
They are charitable. Let those who have abused religion 
simply present us models of devotion to God and the good of 
humanity, and the warmest commendations they receive will 
be from the class they have misrepresented. 

To me it is a pleasing thought that there are some without 
the communion of the Church who are sincerely striving to 
serve God. It were better if the fruit-bearing vines were all 
within the sacred enclosure, sheltered from fierce winds, 
favored with the warmer rays of Heaven, under the imme- 
diate care of the Great Husbandman, surrounded by influ- 
ences which aid in enhancing beauty, in increasing fruitfulness 
and in developing hidden strength. Since it may not be so, 
perhaps because thorns are occupying the place which they 



HARD TIMES, 47 

might otherwise occupy, let us not be guilty of soliciting 
charity from them while unwilling to accord them the same. 
Let us have the disposition which shall enable us to accept 
the Saviour^s declaration, " Many shall came from the east and 
from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall 
sit down with Abraham in the Kingdom." Let us have that 
fidelity to unadulterated truth which shall prompt us to 
believe that they, and they alone, are God^s children who are 
sincerely endeavoring to serve Him and their fellow men. 
With that intensity of earnestness which induces us to labor 
continuously for progress in personal consecration, and prays 
that all may possess divine forgiveness, let us mark our 
pathway to glory by charity for all. 



48 HARD TIMES. 



WHEN WILL THEY COME NO MORE? 

" Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep 
and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the 
mercy which he sware unto thy fathers." — Dent, vii., 12. 

Says Solomon, " Say not thou, What is the cause that the 
former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire 
wisely concerning this/' However deeply we may be dis- 
heartened by a thoughtful outlook upon the present, there can 
be no doubt that in the main there has been progress. The 
nations are wealthier, more intelligent, in certain respects more 
moral, and in some aspects more religious. The progress, it 
is true, has been interrupted at times by retrograde movements. 
Perhaps we should not err greatly, were we to concede that we 
are now on a retreating wave. Wealth is disa[)pearing, moral 
principle is becoming less powerful. Christian profession is 
dishonored, religion is openly insulted. Still, it does not 
follow that in all respects the former times were better than 
these, nor that the immediate future will not witness great 
moral improvement. The ship which has been drifting 
towards the rocks may suddenly take a new tack, and quietly 
enter a safe harbor. For this let us labor. There are not a 
few earnest souls who assure us tliat the present is a remark- 
ably immoral age; that we are treading upon the crumbling 
edge of a mighty precipice; that worldliness is rife, con-* 
science dead, vice rampant, and religion either a pleasing 
sentiment or a lifeless formalism. With a startling array of 
facts they affirm that we are living in a degenerate age. Nor 
are they sufficiently refuted by the flippant class of speakers 
who boastingly affirm : The age is less immoral than those 
that have gone before, the appearances of increased wicked- 



HARD TIMES. 49 

iiess being produced by the publicity now given to all forms 
of iniquity. But, though newspapers are making us more 
familiar with the moral condition of the public by reporting 
crimes, sometimes with disgusting details, quite often in forms 
that tend to lessen man's horror of it, it may be questioned 
whether certain forms of crime were as prevalent during the 
past history of this country as now. Certainly their frequency 
and their enormity are becoming alarming. 

To dwell upon this fact, however, may tend to produce 
discouragement. Thither deep despondency lies. Let us 
note rather the encouragements to renewed exertion. There 
is a vast amount of Christian activity. Let us hope this 
will ere long produce beneficial results. The spirit of reform 
is becoming quite general. Let us pray that it may sweep 
over the land like a devouring fire, destroying everything 
that is hostile to the best interests of humanity, inimical to 
the progress of genuine religion, and dishonoring to God. 
The spirit of self-sacrifice is rapidly growing. Let us hope 
it will accomplish miracles of reform. A readiness to suffer 
for truth is becoming quite conspicuous, more so than in years 
gone by. Surely, blessings innumerable will distil from her 
jewelled fingers. If the spirit of the martyrs shall swell 
within Christian bosoms, perishing souls will be rescued, the 
Church quickened, and a nation born almost as in a day. 
Heavenly Father, give us more of the martyr spirit, that the 
success of Thy cause may be the most powerful motive in- 
fluencing our hearts. When we stand face to face with death 
may it be our privilege to say, " This little life has been con- 
secrated to God and humanity. Father, we surrendered it to 
Thee on earth ; take it to thyself in glory. Saviour, we were 
willing to die for Thee ; may we live eternally with Thee.'' 

When will Hard Times come no more ? 

I. When party spirit is destroyed — perhaps we should say 
when it is in some measure circumscribed. Some, possibly, 
may question the propriety of discussing the moral aspects of 

D 



50 HARD TIMES, 

politics. Such, however, would do well to remember that the 
prophets were religious statesmen ; their writings severe 
denunciations of improper lines of national policy, and 
earnest recommendations of those approved in revelation. It 
is scarcely worth our while to become more holy than our 
accepted standard of faith and practice. Aside from the 
abundant sanction of Scripture, a moment's reflection con- 
vinces us that religion is under the most sacred obligations to 
condemn whatever is evil in politics and commend whatever 
is right. 

From no portion of the broad province of morality and 
religion may she be legitimately invited to retire. Indeed, it 
is because she has not properly cultivated all her fields that 
so many political crimes have been enacted and corruption 
has become so exceedingly rampant. The prophets and John 
Knox, far from condemning the Church for discussing the 
moral phases of politics, saw plainly that unless the national 
fountains of influence were kept pure, personal piety, in 
many cases, would be only a respectable cloak to cover moral 
rottenness. Most persons will concede that party spirit must 
be in some measure circumscribed ere we see an advent of 
good times. It has been the bane of Republics. In ancient 
Rome it attained such power that no agency was considered 
too base, provided it aided in the furtherance of political ends. 
Under its blighting influence the sturdy Roman character 
lost nearly all its manly virtues. Notwithstanding stringent 
legislation, the purchase of votes became so common and 
appalling in its effects upon individual and national character 
that, as the less of two evils, the offices were sold at auction 
to the highest bidder. Rome's liberties were gone. Her 
greatness was a thing of the past. She soon sank beneath a 
surging tide of corruption. Centuries have not sufficed for 
her delivery. Hordes of beggars now infest her streets, where 
once was heard the proud tread of soldiers whose valiant arms 
had conquered the civilized world ; senate chambers are now 



HARD TIMES. 51 

silent, where once great statesmen weighed the destinies of 
empires. 

It is a painful but undeniable fact that the spirit of party, 
when pressed too far, tends to blind 6ne to the vital interests 
of the country. We become partisans rather than patriots. 
But how is this spirit to be broken ? It sometimes seems 
doubtful whether it ever will be sufficiently eradicated to 
relieve us from imminent danger, or to inaugurate needed 
reforms ; and yet, if on an average, in every county of this 
nation, there were five hundred independent voters, they 
would practically hold in their hands the destinies of this 
nation, and would force both parties to give us good legisla- 
tion, a vigorous enforcement of the laws, and nominations for 
office worthy the confidence of a great nation. Both parties 
would be under the necessity of bidding for the favor of those 
who held the balance of power. May the day soon dawn 
when good people cling as closely and as firmly as the vicious 
classes. 

II. Nor need we anticipate a return of prosperous times 
till greater economy is practiced in public expenditures. It 
costs more to govern this nation poorly than would vsuffice to 
govern it well, more than for the maintenance of monarchy 
in England. Indeed, what is wrenched from us in taxes by 
the liquor traffic alone would, in a few years, render times 
prosperous. 

Certainly we need not expect good times till parties cease 
vieing with each other in prostituting public interests to the 
purchase of votes. Seventeen millions, in addition to pre- 
vious pensions, were voted by the recent Congress to soldiers. 
Did they expect it? No. Did they clamor for it? No. 
Why then was this new burden imposed upon us? One 
party recommended it to manufacture political capital. The 
other, fearing the loss of votes, endorsed it. 

Perhaps, instead of fruitlessly inveighing against these 
things we should be doing more for the welfare of society by 



52 HARD TIMES, 

industriously cultivating a manly independence which shall 
prompt us to say, ^^ Let others do as they may, as for me I 
will serve the Lord/' and take the consequences; serve Him 
not alone in the sanctuary, but in the home, on the street, in 
the place of business, in whatever moral reforms may be 
inaugurated and in the duties of citizenship ; serve him stand- 
ing in my lot and unmurmuringly accepting whatever comes. 
What every age needs, and this, perhaps, in pre-eminent degree, 
is moral heroism. There is a lack of individuality. Men are 
like sardines in a box, one scarcely distinguishable from 
another; are like sheep which go in a drove, and cannot be 
made to go singly unless one happens to be angry. In modern 
society, there is, to appearances, a conspiracy against inde- 
pendent action. So extremely feeble is the spirit of individ- 
uality that some who would have courage to remain with a 
regiment in battle could not be prevailed upon to disregard 
the dictates of fashion. With them custom dictates every- 
thing, their amusements, their modes of living, the amount 
they shall give to the Church, the manner they shall educate 
their children, the style in which they shall dress, the opin- 
ions they shall entertain, and the actions they shall perform. 
They are slaves to custom. The eternal laws of God are less 
binding upon them than the conventional codes of society. 
They will disregard divine commands and violate their own 
convictions rather than stand alone. Consequently, the first 
question asked is not, " Is it right ?'' but " Is it politic ?" 
Craven, what difference does it make whether it is politic or 
not? whether the multitude commend it or censure it? Stand 
by your conscience and your God. Do your own thinking. 
You don^t cramp your feet because millions of Chinese do. 
You don't compress your head because some Indian tribes 
admire a cone-shaped skull. Why then should you run 
counter to your own judgment simply in obedience to policy? 
Do what reason dictates and moral sense approves and let 
those who are lacking in manly independence ape others. 



HARD TIMES. 53 

Possibly they may weary of imitating senseless customs and 
selfish modes of action and may fall to aping Christian 
heroism. Mr. John Mill has well said, that in this age the 
man who thinks for himself and acts independently, does a 
service to the race ; a service the lack of which marks the 
"chief danger of the times. 

Great moral changes were never yet inaugurated by the simul- 
taneous movement of masses of men. They are fruits of 
individual heroism. Witness Paul ; God and he on one side, 
almost the entire world on the other. Behold him before the 
Roman court ! Does he wait before publicly endorsing 
Christianity till half the empire had embraced it ? Nay, he 
pleads for his Master, though facing death, till the guilty 
judge '^ paled to the color of his marble throne.^' From that 
court the message of redemption went to many a heart. Did 
Elijah wait till all Israel was ready to accompany him into 
the presence of wicked Ahab ? Had he done so Israel had 
been helplessly at the feet of tlie cruel monarch. He pressed 
into the presence of the king, burdened with the conviction, 
"I, I only, am left and they seek my life to take it.'' He 
dared to say, " Thou, O Ahab, art he that doth trouble 
Israel." Lo, what a revelation; there were seven thousand 
in Israel, all unknown to Elijah, who had not bowed the 
knee to Baal. Under the magic of Elijah's example their 
cowardice disappeared and Israel was rescued. 

Fix your eye upon Martin Luther, at a time when all 
Europe was in fetters of spiritual despotism, under the iron 
heel of the Romish Church. Did he enter some secluded 
nook and carefully estimate the exact strength of the enemy, 
and weigh in the scales of human prudence the probability 
of his being able to do battle successfully against so many 
and such desperate foes? By no means. In the face of 
Pome and in the hearing of Europe he shouted : '^ Here I 
stand, I cannot otherwise, God help me." That single act of 
moral heroism emboldened thousands and made multitudes 



54 HARD TIMES. 

Protestant. By consequence, we to-day worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of our own consciences. Another illustra- 
tion. When Moses came down from the mount and found 
that the Israelites had made a golden calf and were wor- 
shipping it, did he consult policy and cowardly ask, in half- 
suppressed whisper, " How many are yet faithful to God ?" 
No, standing in the gate of the camp, he shouted in the hear- 
ing of Israel, " Who is on the Lord's side ? let him come 
unto me ;" and from out that great host came forth the sons 
of Levi. They had wavered before; had gone with the 
multitude. Perhaps they studied policy and had forgotten 
that eternal truth, if adliered to, is certain to win victory. 
Again Moses shouts, ^' Put every man his sword by his side 
* * * and slay every man his neigh bor.^' There fell of 
the people that day three thousand, and idolatry in Israel 
found a grave. 

It is no doubt apparent to all that, as Christians, we do 
more to reform existing evils by cultivating Christian graces 
than by hurling anathemas against abounding iniquity ; ap- 
parent that the good time coming is to be inaugurated by 
individual heroism, not by waiting till all are actuated to 
return to God, and the obedience of His commands ; by each 
one standing in his lot till the end be. When every Christian 
has acquired that degree of manliness which enables him to 
stand quietly but firmly by his convictions, better times will 
speedily dawn. Though it is indeed impossible to drive men 
into battle it is not difficult to lead them. As a rule, the 
world is not willing to permit its benefactors to suifer mar- 
tyrdom in its behalf. It will spring to their side. 

III. With pleasure we pass to a more congenial theme. 
When will Hard Times come no more ? When moral reforms 
pass from the province of talk to the province of action. They 
must of necessity begin in a change of opinion, which can 
only be secured by a succession of solid arguments reiterated 
again and again till all perceive their cogency. Nothing 



HARD TIMES. 55 

practical, however, is eifected till opinions are boiled down into 
action. So far as producing beneficial results is concerned it is 
quite immaterial what we think unless our beliefs receive em- 
bodiment in acts. We may talk temperance, recommend reform, 
inveigh against lawlessness, denounce })ublic extravagance, 
and hurl anathemas against political corruption; with the 
thunderbolts of sarcasm we may scathe the crime of vote- 
purchasing, we may preach political honesty with the power 
and eloquence of Demosthenes, but unless we convert our 
opinions into a purpose and our purpose into an act, no change 
is effected. You cannot stop tlie flow of a river by standing 
upon the bank and arguing with the fast-moving current. 
You cannot conquer the enemy by stationing yourself in some 
safe retreat and manufacturing paper bullets. The world's 
greatest orator, when asked wherein consisted the power of 
oratory, responded, " First, in action ; second, in action ; third, 
in action.'' Certainly the secret of securing reform in those 
things which are conditions of returning prosperity, is Act, 
act, act It is true, thought rules the world, but it only rules 
when expressed in the language of action. When those who 
desire a reformation in Church and State feel too deeply to 
say much, but are resolutely determined on action, we shall be 
upon the eve of good times. 

I sometimes fancy his Satanic Majesty sends messengers to 
earth to ascertain how his cause is progressing. One returns 
to the regions of darkness announcing, " Christian people are 
in wonderful commotion. They are arguing with great power 
the superior advantages of genuine religion." Satan calmly 
replies, " Let them go on. There is no occasion for anxiety." 
A few months later another messenger from earth announces 
in the high assemblies of pandemonium, " We must take 
decisive measures instantly or our dominion on earth will be 
at an end. The Church is denouncing sin in valiant style. 
The excitement is intense. Every one is talking and arguing. 
So potent are the reasonings that our friends are silenced, not 



56 HARD TIMES. 

one voice being publicly raised in defence of our rights, opin- 
ions, privileges and practices." Above the din of the excited 
host Satan's voice is heard inquiring, "Are thej doing any- 
thing more than talk?" "JSTo." "Then tliere is no ground 
for fear. Dismiss this assembly. I have known them to 
talk for years, and resolve again and again, and subsequently 
endorse my rule. Nay, in great measure their actions are all 
I could desire. My kingdom does not rest upon talk but 
upon acts." In the lapse of time another messenger arrives. 
Flying straight to the council chamber of the vast realm of 
darkness, he shouts, " Fellow fiends, on earth a few people 
who have hitherto said but little against our dominion have 
resolutely entered the domain of action. Reform has 
entered upon a new stage. They have changed their con- 
duct. Everything they do deals a deadly blow at us. And 
the heroism is becoming contagious. Others quietly but with 
fixed determination, are fallmg into line." Immediately all 
pandemonium was in uproar. Swift-winged messengers were 
hastily dispatched to earth and advised to say to those in the 
province of action, " You are acting unwisely. Study policy. 
You are making enemies to the cause you profess to love. 
Retreat into the province of moral suasion. Unite yourselves 
with those wiser people who argue the case and await God's 
time for deliverance from existing evils." 

" Foul fiends, back to the dark dungeon whence you issued. 
We don't spend our time in idle talk. We have determined 
to act and win victory or purchase honorable death." That 
night there was sadness in pandemonium. His Satanic 
Majesty mournfully exclaimed, " We have suffered defeat. 
Moral reform will sweep over the earth like a destroying 
tornado." 

IV. When will Hard Times come no more? When 
religion becomes an every-day dress and by consequence we 
have an exhibition of practical Christian virtues. There is a 
powerful tendency to have a form of religion which may be 



HARD TIME 8. 57 

put on with the Sabbath dress, and laid off with it. We 
serve God on Sabbath with words. Are we as careful to 
serve him six days in the week by acts? If so, how does it 
happen that in a nation where there are millions of professing 
Christians, needed reforms are so exceedingly slow in reaching 
success? It is in the power of professing Christians to sup- 
press, in great measure, the evils of the liquor traffic; to 
terminate Sabbath desecration ; to crush out, to some extent, 
the political corruption which is eating up our substance and 
sapping the foundations of national permanency; to frown 
down extravagance, and inaugurate reform wherever needed. 
Were we to unite around the cross and implore the descent of 
the Spirit, a revival such as we have never witnessed would 
sweep over the land, showering blessings on every iiand. 
When religion becomes a ruling principle, a practical power 
in every believer's heart, Hard Times will be succeeded by 
prosperity. Of this we may be certain since we have the 
assurance, '^ Godliness has promise of the life that now is.'' 
Moreover, as we are all perfectly well aware that in the case 
of individuals immoral living tends to poverty, we have no 
difficulty in believing that public immorality induces Hard 
Times ; consequently, the cultivation of practical piety is the 
most direct agency in securing a return of prosperity. 

When religion has become an every-day dress we shall 
have less sympathy with crime and a higher regard for justice. 
Sympathy with criminals is a luxury this nation can no longer 
afford. It is injurious to those upon whom it is conferred, 
increases evils that are already appalling, tends to national 
impoverishment, removes rewards from virtu.e, and is a glar- 
ing injustice to the friends of law and order. Prompt and ade- 
quate punishment for law-breakers will rapidly pave the way 
to better times. When justice sits enthroned, holding her 
scales with each hand, incapable of being purchased by either 
bribes or flattery, we shall be upon the high road to sunnier 
days. Permanent blessings shall then distil upon us from the 

E 



58 HARD TIMES. 

full hand of indiistry ; honesty, reaping rich rewards, shall 
become more general ; economy, the amasser of fortunes and 
the bestower of comforts in the homes of the poor, shall be 
more universally admired, and religion, man's comfort here 
and the foundation of his hope hereafter, shall be more widely 
diffused and more potent in its influence. 

What I have undertaken is completed. Alas, like all 
human effort, it has been characterized by many imperfec- 
tions. May a merciful God accept it, however, and bless it 
to the honor of His name. May it aid His people in journey- 
heavenward. May it cheer them by the wa^. May it enable 
them ^0 +':'"ce the pathway of duty through the intrieacies of 
daily life, till as victors their feet shall tread the golden street. 
Binding us into a holy determination to toil for this sanctuary, 
to invite the unrenewed to the cross, the careless to the Saviour 
and the sinning to the fountain of cleansing, may it aid us in 
bearing the cross here and winning the crown hereafter. In- 
spiring us with intense earnestness which looks directly into the 
heart of things, which discerns great folly in much that trans- 
spires, may it aid us in spurning formalism, in regulating our 
lives by some more enduring standard than the conduct of the 
fickle multitude, and in cultivating that form of piety which 
has practical power in overturning the abominations of an 
age characterized by selfishness, worldliness and short-sighted 
policy. May it infuse energy into the will ; instil sweetness 
into the life, principle into religion and conscience into 
politics. If it shall aid, even in the slightest measure, in 
quickening the moral sense in reference to the duties of citi- 
zenship, it shall not be in vain in the Lord. Such a result 
will be an ample recompense for the labor undergone, and 
will be a slight indication of a public desire to transmit free 
institutions to our descendants. 

If, fortunately, there have been any interested listeners who 
have never publicly acknowledged allegiance to God, may we 
not express the hope that you will not look upon these sermons as 



HARD TIMES. 59 

prepared with no more laudable ambition than merely to 
instruct or interest by introducing subjects not ordinarily 
discussed in the pulpit ? Variety in the presentation of truth 
is an end I have ever laboriously sought to attain. I have 
never imagined I could win you to the cross, nor even wed 
you to the Church, by presenting the same truths in thread- 
bare form : I have too high respect for your intelligence. But 
whatever lesson may be drawn from the great ocean (^f truth, 
and in whatever form it may be pressed upon your expectant 
lips, may it be ever accompanied with the burning hope that 
sinners by it may be drawn to the cross. If these sermons 
yield no fruit in this respect, the all-absorbing question, 
" How to reach the souls of men ?" will henceforth press 
with greater weight upon a heart sometimes per[)lexed beyond 
measure. 

'^No fruit,^^ this I trust can scarcely be. The earnest atten- 
tion given is pleasing evidence that you are convinced of the 
existence of evils all around us, evils that are endangering 
the hopes of Christians, ensnaring the feet of the unwary, 
binding fetters upon the careless and apparently closing the 
gates of glory against not a few. 

Before leaving this sanctuary, may some bow in heart before 
God, confessing, '^ Belonging to a sinful race, I also have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God ; show me Thy 
salvation.'^ 

Alas, the insufficiency of preaching. We can never reform 
others ; much less convert them. Thanks be to divine grace, 
each for himself may turn to Jehovah. 



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